


The Tides of Ocean Eyes

by goldilocks23



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Canon, Challenge Response, Established Relationship, F/M, Firsts, Fluff, Gift Exchange, One Shot, Reminiscing, Romance, Zutara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:35:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26570755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldilocks23/pseuds/goldilocks23
Summary: Zuko ruminates on all of the firsts.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 34
Kudos: 143
Collections: Zutara Fluff Exchange





	The Tides of Ocean Eyes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blackhawkdown](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackhawkdown/gifts).



> Here is my humble contribution to the Zutara Fluff Exchange. I tried to do a thing with the format and it didn’t actually end up being that fluffy, but I hope you enjoy!

_“When did you first know?”_ _she asks him one morning._

_“Know what?”_

_“That you loved me.”_

* * *

The first time he sees her, she is only a little girl bundled in furs at the edge of the world. She is standing between him and the Avatar. She has the ocean in her eyes.

_He rolls over to face her and cups her cheek. She presses a kiss to his thumb when he brushes it over her lips._

The first time he touches her, it is more intimate than he intends. If she notices, she does not say. There is a storm in those eyes as he whispers, “I’ll save you from the pirates.” She tells him to go jump in a river.

_Her eyes flutter closed as he tangles his hands in the thick tresses of her hair._

The first time he loses to her, she is bathed in the light of the full moon. The little girl under the southern sky is no more. Her ocean eyes turn to ice. “Trust me, Zuko. It’s not going to be much of a match.” She is right.

_He kisses the tip of her nose, her cheeks, the corner of her mouth._

The first time she offers him help, he sees the ice begin to thaw. But Uncle Iroh is hurt. He flings fire at her. The ocean freezes again. She is gone.

_Her sigh fans his face when he takes her hand in his and moves his lips to her palm._

The first time she touches him, it is also the first time he thinks he is in danger of drowning. Her ocean is calm, reflecting the green luminescence of the Crystal Catacombs. He has never let anyone near his scar, but he leans into her hand. It scares him. He makes a choice. She becomes permafrost.

_He kisses along her jaw hungrily. A gasp escapes her parted lips, and he smiles against her skin._

The first time he dreams about the ocean, he knows he has made a mistake. He makes another choice and pretends the Avatar is his reasoning. “I’m sorry, Mai.” He leaves with the taste of ozone on his tongue.

_Her fingers capture one of his hands. He traces the other down her body, leaving fire in his wake._

The first time she enters his room in the night, a warm feeling settles over his chest. It doesn’t last. She threatens his life. He is left alone and cold as the ice of her ocean.

_He grazes his teeth over her earlobe and feels her shiver. She chuckles breathlessly, and it is music._

The first time she smiles at him, he allows himself to hope. They eat dinner under the stars and tell stories of the Boiling Rock. He lets the others do the talking. The campfire illuminates her face when she catches his eye. For the moment, the ocean feels warm again.

_Her arms wind around his neck, and she pulls him closer until their bodies are flush. A low groan escapes his throat._

The first time she saves his life, he is fairly certain that it will not be the last. He is not wrong. The storm returns to her eyes, and he thinks this time he would jump in a river if she told him to.

_He heats his hands as he runs them over her skin. She arches her back against him._

The first time he watches her bend blood, her ocean eyes boil over an unseen fire. There is darkness under her surface. He understands. She clutches the pendant at her neck. He listens.

_Her head tilts to give him more access while he peppers her neck with open-mouthed kisses._

The first time she forgives him, he realizes that he is hers for the taking. He can see the fire now. It burns brighter than anything he can make with his hands. Her ocean has never looked more beautiful. He holds her tighter under the setting sun.

_He slips her silk nightgown down her shoulder. His tongue follows his hand, and she moans softly at the sensation._

The first time she holds his hand, she might as well be holding his beating heart. All she has to do is squeeze. She doesn’t. He hears the blind earthbender snicker on her other side. The playhouse is dark. The ocean sparkles.

_Her hands run through his hair like water. He whispers her name like a caress._

The first time he kisses her, the moon is high, and so are her tides. He remembers his fear of drowning. He embraces it this time. Her ocean eyes glow like crystals in a cave.

_He pulls back to meet her gaze, and his breath hitches. He could do this forever._

The first time she invites him into her bed, her dilated pupils conceal the ocean. But he knows it is there, waiting to sweep him away. Her hair fans out across the pillows like a halo. She tastes of sweat and Ember Island mangoes. It crosses his mind that he might love her. She cries out his name in the dark, and he thinks that she might love him, too.

_Her forehead is pressed to his. His chest rises and falls in time with her heartbeats._

He rises with the sun on the morning of Sozin’s Comet. She is awake, perched on the edge of a grassy cliff overlooking the White Lotus encampment. She does not look up when he approaches. He doesn’t mind, and they sit together in silence. The morning breeze tosses her hair. She turns to him when he catches a strand of it between his fingers. They exchange a secret smile.

There is sunlight reflected in her ocean eyes. He thinks he sees his future there.

That is when he first knows.

_He tells her so._

_She beams at him. “For me, it was the first time you offered to do the dishes.”_

_He snorts. “I love you, Katara.”_

_She kisses him. He drowns._


End file.
